Ex-Apple customer relations staffer fixes iPhone bug by switching to Android

AppleInsider · May 21, 2021 10:18AM

Following months of Apple failing to resolve a common iPhone notification bug, a user claiming to be ex-Apple, has fixed the issue by buying a Samsung phone.

Notifications on iPhone

This is true: iOS 14 has a persistent bug where it fails to show notifications. The issue affects different users in different ways -- AppleInsider, for instance, may get lock screen displays but no sound alerts, while others get nothing.

It's also true that Apple has been notified of the problem but possibly isn't getting notifications either. The issue has persisted since the launch of iOS 14 and while there are conflicting reports of different solutions or workarounds, there hasn't been a fix.

What's now claimed is that it's an ex-employee from Apple's customer relations department who has announced he or she has switched to an Android phone. As first spotted by ZDnet, regular Apple forum poster "StubbornPixie" says they've moved to a Samsung Galaxy A12.

"Just wanted to let everyone know that I finally I fixed my issue after 6 months of this nonsense," posted StubbornPixie in the support thread. "I bought a Samsung Galaxy A12 for $180. And I haven't missed a notification since. Is it the best phone ever? Nah. Is it functional? Yeah. Have I died from using it? Nah. Good enough."

"I worked for Apple for 10 years in Customer Relations out of Austin, TX," he or she added. "This is embarrassing and I just had to buy a Samsung."

As well as Apple failing to provide a fix or, so far, acknowledging the bug, there is no one consistent workaround. However, some users have had success following the standard solutions of updating to the latest version of iOS 14, restarting their phone and so on.

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crowley · May 21, 2021 10:38AM

Heh, I had a suspicion that some of my notifications were getting lost, good to have it confirmed.

maestro64 · May 21, 2021 10:54AM

I am not sure if I'm having this problem since long ago I turned off most of the notifications since I got tired of all dings and my lock screen filled. I get meeting and text notices and missed calls, I'm pretty sure I have not missed any.

thedba · May 21, 2021 11:01AM

crowley said:

Heh, I had a suspicion that some of my notifications were getting lost, good to have it confirmed.

Huh?
Your presumed lost notifications were confirmed by some anonymous used on ZDNet?

NeoMover · May 21, 2021 11:05AM

This can actually fixed quite simply by a fresh install. As with all software if you do not backup regularly and then reset your device after each update you leave residual data behind and that causes the issues. It’s actually the same issue that people have with greyed out sections on update. Just remember to do a fresh backup then rest and wipe contents, although a little tiresome for large capacity devices, if you use a Mac/MacBook or pc/laptop it’s even easier as your backup contains your data too! This method is actually recommended by ALL vendors Apple Android Windows Linux no matter the software updates need fresh installs, solves the old PIC problem, sorry IT joke person in chair haha

thedba · May 21, 2021 11:12AM

This may very well be affecting some.

Why doesn’t it surprise me that some anonymous poster on ZDNet solved all his problems by switching to Android. That’s the place one has to visit if they want to discover how much Apple sucks.

I once asked contributor Ed Bott who’s blog there was titled “Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report”, how come he spent so much time writing about Apple? A little after that he retitled his blog to “The Ed Bott Report”. That was back in the Steve Ballmer years. Haven’t been there since.

crowley · May 21, 2021 11:20AM

thedba said:

crowley said:

Heh, I had a suspicion that some of my notifications were getting lost, good to have it confirmed.

Huh?
Your presumed lost notifications were confirmed by some anonymous used on ZDNet?

Confirmed that other users have seen similar behaviour and it's likely a problem with iOS/APNs rather than my particular iPhone, or in my head.

That clear enough?

thedba · May 21, 2021 11:43AM

crowley said:

thedba said:

crowley said:

Heh, I had a suspicion that some of my notifications were getting lost, good to have it confirmed.

Huh?
Your presumed lost notifications were confirmed by some anonymous used on ZDNet?

Confirmed that other users have seen similar behaviour and it's likely a problem with iOS/APNs rather than my particular iPhone, or in my head.

That clear enough?

No problem. I get it.

dysamoria · May 21, 2021 11:53AM

This happens in iOS 12.x too. Sometimes alarms won’t chime and sometimes reminders won’t show alerts. It’s random and infrequent, but it’s definitely happening.

dysamoria · May 21, 2021 11:56AM

NeoMover said:

This can actually fixed quite simply by a fresh install. As with all software if you do not backup regularly and then reset your device after each update you leave residual data behind and that causes the issues. It’s actually the same issue that people have with greyed out sections on update. Just remember to do a fresh backup then rest and wipe contents, although a little tiresome for large capacity devices, if you use a Mac/MacBook or pc/laptop it’s even easier as your backup contains your data too! This method is actually recommended by ALL vendors Apple Android Windows Linux no matter the software updates need fresh installs, solves the old PIC problem, sorry IT joke person in chair haha

Needing to reinstall from scratch to “fix” a bug shows that all of these systems are not maintainable. This isn’t acceptable, but tech geeks keep pushing the idea that crap like this is perfectly normal.

lkrupp · May 21, 2021 12:44PM

thedba said:

crowley said:

Heh, I had a suspicion that some of my notifications were getting lost, good to have it confirmed.

Huh?
Your presumed lost notifications were confirmed by some anonymous used on ZDNet?

Well, that’s the purpose of outlier, one-off articles like this one, especially if it involves an alleged former employee who went over to the competition. That’s clickbait in its grandest form. Now we’ll hear from all the “Apple’s QA is lacking, iOS is behind the curve, Apple has lost its way, fire Cook” crowd.

hydrogen · May 21, 2021 12:59PM

Apple : the one and only company in the world for which one customer loss makes a press headline.

ITGUYINSD · May 21, 2021 1:11PM

lkrupp said:

thedba said:

crowley said:

Heh, I had a suspicion that some of my notifications were getting lost, good to have it confirmed.

Huh?
Your presumed lost notifications were confirmed by some anonymous used on ZDNet?

Well, that’s the purpose of outlier, one-off articles like this one, especially if it involves an alleged former employee who went over to the competition. That’s clickbait in its grandest form. Now we’ll hear from all the “Apple’s QA is lacking, iOS is behind the curve, Apple has lost its way, fire Cook” crowd.

You prefer only "Apple is Perfect" articles? I don't see many of those, but there are plenty of posters who think they are.

I will add that the person that bought the A12 for $180 isn't the smartest shopper. They could have purchased a much more capable phone for the same price had they looked around a bit. Heck, I got my A71 for $69 after trading in an old iPhone.

pulseimages · May 21, 2021 1:29PM

Can’t say I’ve experienced this phenomenon.

hammeroftruth · May 21, 2021 1:45PM

dysamoria said:

NeoMover said:

This can actually fixed quite simply by a fresh install. As with all software if you do not backup regularly and then reset your device after each update you leave residual data behind and that causes the issues. It’s actually the same issue that people have with greyed out sections on update. Just remember to do a fresh backup then rest and wipe contents, although a little tiresome for large capacity devices, if you use a Mac/MacBook or pc/laptop it’s even easier as your backup contains your data too! This method is actually recommended by ALL vendors Apple Android Windows Linux no matter the software updates need fresh installs, solves the old PIC problem, sorry IT joke person in chair haha

Needing to reinstall from scratch to “fix” a bug shows that all of these systems are not maintainable. This isn’t acceptable, but tech geeks keep pushing the idea that crap like this is perfectly normal.

It’s been normal since iOS 7.

The OS has been notorious in creating issues system wide and as a little fu, resides in the backup.

The mantra from Apple has always been since iOS 7 to erase all content and settings and setup as new and NOT restore from your backup. Only sync the things you have setup to sync from iCloud, but very few people do that because it’s a chore and they lose their SMS messages and logins for all the third party apps they have. This is whenever you have issues that originate from the OS.

Beats · May 21, 2021 1:57PM

Like millennials say “weird flex”. Seems like a premeditated article from this “ex-Apple” person. Why would you complain about a bug and then switch to a platform with 99% malware, more bugs and fragmentation? Over ONE small bug.

With that said. Apple should fix this.

AppleUfmyI · May 21, 2021 2:00PM

Why is this news?! So a user switches. Big deal. I am sure you could equally run a story about a user switching from Android to Apple because if some issue. How about just running the article about the core issue of the product not working with some real analysis about the amount of people impacted or hitting the Apple forums?

sdw2001 · May 21, 2021 2:14PM

I find it hard to believe that it’s such a big problem this person had to switch phones. Seems like an attention ploy to me.

elijahg · May 21, 2021 2:45PM

dysamoria said:

NeoMover said:

This can actually fixed quite simply by a fresh install. As with all software if you do not backup regularly and then reset your device after each update you leave residual data behind and that causes the issues. It’s actually the same issue that people have with greyed out sections on update. Just remember to do a fresh backup then rest and wipe contents, although a little tiresome for large capacity devices, if you use a Mac/MacBook or pc/laptop it’s even easier as your backup contains your data too! This method is actually recommended by ALL vendors Apple Android Windows Linux no matter the software updates need fresh installs, solves the old PIC problem, sorry IT joke person in chair haha

Needing to reinstall from scratch to “fix” a bug shows that all of these systems are not maintainable. This isn’t acceptable, but tech geeks keep pushing the idea that crap like this is perfectly normal.

Similar to the bug where GPS workout data was missing, Apple's solution was to erase and restore. That is not a reasonable solution. And yes, the unmaintainability is caused by software bloat and bad code commenting practises usually by someone who has since left. If Apple is at a stage whereby they can't fix bugs because they can't find them in the code, they need to strip out some of the bloat. Another Snow Leopard would be good, as would "it'd done when it's done" releases rather than "it has to be done by X".

elijahg · May 21, 2021 2:49PM

hammeroftruth said:

dysamoria said:

NeoMover said:

This can actually fixed quite simply by a fresh install. As with all software if you do not backup regularly and then reset your device after each update you leave residual data behind and that causes the issues. It’s actually the same issue that people have with greyed out sections on update. Just remember to do a fresh backup then rest and wipe contents, although a little tiresome for large capacity devices, if you use a Mac/MacBook or pc/laptop it’s even easier as your backup contains your data too! This method is actually recommended by ALL vendors Apple Android Windows Linux no matter the software updates need fresh installs, solves the old PIC problem, sorry IT joke person in chair haha

Needing to reinstall from scratch to “fix” a bug shows that all of these systems are not maintainable. This isn’t acceptable, but tech geeks keep pushing the idea that crap like this is perfectly normal.

It’s been normal since iOS 7.

The OS has been notorious in creating issues system wide and as a little fu, resides in the backup.

The mantra from Apple has always been since iOS 7 to erase all content and settings and setup as new and NOT restore from your backup. Only sync the things you have setup to sync from iCloud, but very few people do that because it’s a chore and they lose their SMS messages and logins for all the third party apps they have. This is whenever you have issues that originate from the OS.

Apple should add the ability to selectively restore items from backups. This is a big issue with closed systems like iOS and iCloud, it's great when it works but when it doesn't the only option is to start afresh. I used to backup to my Mac, remove all the junk in it with a third party app and restore it back to the phone, until Apple started mandating encryption of backups. There's tons of unnecessary stuff in the backups: temporary files, internal settings, caches, logs, all sorts. It's corruption in these hidden files that end up causing the same issues again after a restore.

6transistor_2_iphone · May 21, 2021 3:24PM

>>>The mantra from Apple has always been since iOS 7 to erase all content and settings and setup as new and NOT restore from your backup. Only sync the things you have setup to sync from iCloud, but very few people do that because it’s a chore and they lose their SMS messages and logins for all the third party apps they have. This is whenever you have issues that originate from the OS.

>>>Apple should add the ability to selectively restore items from backups. This is a big issue with closed systems like iOS and iCloud, it's great when it works but when it doesn't the only option is to start afresh. I used to backup to my Mac, remove all the junk in it with a third party app and restore it back to the phone, until Apple started mandating encryption of backups. There's tons of unnecessary stuff in the backups: temporary files, internal settings, caches, logs, all sorts. It's corruption in these hidden files that end up causing the same issues again after a restore.

With the addition of messages to iCloud we can now selectively sync back into a fresh install nearly everything we need including text messages. It's slow but works, have done it a couple of times for friends.

The only thing I can think of that can't be synced back are some Apps that store their data internally, and I hope those are fewer these days.

Ex-Apple customer relations staffer fixes iPhone bug by switching to Android

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